


shall i compare thee

by allp_wips



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-06-02 05:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19434751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allp_wips/pseuds/allp_wips
Summary: If she were asked, later on, Alex couldn’t possibly explain why she thought that writing love poems to Astra was the best way to ask her out.





	shall i compare thee

If she were asked, later on, Alex couldn’t possibly explain why she thought that writing love letters to Astra was the best way to ask her out. 

To begin with, she had been drinking that night, something she didn’t do so often lately. More than that, she had been drinking a lot, which was something she did even less often.

That still wasn’t the whole of it, though.

The thing was, until then, Alex had never gotten around to telling Astra about her feelings. Between how they had started out as enemies, and the whole complication with them both being family to Kara, it was a whole can of worms that Alex hadn’t wanted to open, when she had first realized that she was developing feelings for Astra. She had reasoned that it was just a crush; it would pass soon enough.

Except that, she hadn’t stopped liking Astra. Not when the woman was in her life every day, being gorgeous and brilliant and  _ right next to her _ practically 24/7. Despite not working for the DEO, Astra often dropped by to help them with whatever new hostile they were facing that day. Then, there were the game nights and movie nights and family nights that Kara organized. If that wasn’t enough, Astra was also over at Alex’s apartment practically every evening, because she’d gotten it into her head that Alex was incapable of providing “suitable nourishment” for herself (three-days-old takeout was plenty nourishing, in Alex’s opinion, no matter how many disgraced Kryptonian generals turned their noses up at it.) 

Suffice it to say, Alex was still painfully in love two years later, over a crush that she had thought would maybe last a month, and her feelings were not showing any signs of abating.

And then, of course, Kara’s engagement party had happened.

Kara’s engagement party had happened, and Alex was already having a hard time trying to deal with all the pointed questions from her family about when they could expect a similar announcement from her, but seeing her Aunt Carol flirt with Astra - and seeing Astra actually blush in response - was really the last straw.

Alex had to do something. Something other than drinking and moping alone in her apartment. Something like actually tell Astra how she felt about her. And after that, she had to do the even more impossible thing of getting Astra to love her back.

It was later that night, when Astra had dropped her off at her apartment - carrying Alex in one hand and her bike in the other while flying through the air, as if Alex had really needed the reminder of how strong she was just then - that Alex came up with her brilliant idea.

Astra loved poetry and love songs. Hadn’t Alex caught her crying over Taylor Swift and Shakespeare more than once, even if the stoic general had tried to hide it?

The answer was right there in front of her eyes, Alex decided, as she lay on the floor of her living room, staring unfocusedly up at the ceiling. She would write Astra a poem to show how she felt about her, and Astra would swoon at how romantic it was, and how romantic Alex was, and they’d be making out in no time.

It was a great plan. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

Beaming, Alex stumbled her way to the kitchen table that doubled as her working desk, and set to work.

\---

Three hours and twenty-one tries later, Alex had come to the realization that many,  _ many _ things could go wrong when one was dead drunk and trying to write love letters when one had never written a love letter before.

To begin with, one could suck at it. Like really,  _ really _ suck at it.

There was half a notebook's worth of paper crumpled up and discarded all around her desk, all attempts at a love poem that she seemed incapable of succeeding at. Glumly, Alex straightened up a crumpled ball up and reread it, to see if it was any better at a second glance.

_ Astra, my love for you cuts like _

_ a sword through my heart _

_ which is funny because I once put _

_ an actual sword through your heart _

Alex stopped reading. Nothing good could have come after that start. She tossed that one away and moved on to another from the discard pile.

_ Astra, I love you the way Kara loves pizza _

_ I mean like I want to eat you up _

_ Or eat you out _

_ Whatever you like _

Too sexual for someone raised on Kryptonian mores, probably. On the other hand, Astra had travelled outside of Krypton quite a lot, and she  _ did _ have a rebellious streak in her...

Best not to risk it, Alex decided, picking up another.

_ O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! _

_ It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night _

_ Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear; _

_ Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! _

Fuck, that one was actually good.

Oh, wait. Alex squinted, and reread the lines. No, that was Shakespeare. She had just copied Shakespeare.

She groaned, swept the rest of the crumpled pieces away from her desk, and set back to work.

\---

Thirteen minutes of concentrated effort, and five more discarded pieces of paper later, Alex had something she could work with:

_ Astra you're really hot _

_ And when you say my name it does funny things to my body _

_ Let's fuck. _

Ok, Alex thought, blinking fuzzily down at the paper, she should probably call it a night. She had the nuts and bolts of it down, at least. She could flower it up the next day. 

She got up from the desk, and stumbled away to her bedroom, trampling on some of the crumpled-up pieces of paper along the way.

\---

Alex woke up the next morning with a headache, and an impending feeling of doom, as if she’d done something very stupid the night before, although she couldn’t remember just then what it was.

She stumbled to the bathroom in a hungover haze. The cold water of the shower managed to quell her headache, at least. By the time Alex had stumbled back out, and dried herself, she was feeling halfway human again.

She headed out to the living room, contemplating whether she should actually enjoy her day off for once, or put a call through to the DEO to see if they needed an extra hand on deck, when a cool voice from the sofa stopped her in her tracks.

"Hello, Alex."

\---

"Hello, Alex."

It was Astra, seated on her couch, the floor at her feet littered with the feeble attempts at poetry that Alex had thrown away the night before.

_ Oh, fuck _ . Alex remembered now.  _ That _ was the stupid thing she had done last night. 

Judging from Astra’s expression, which was its usual stoic mask, the litter might as well not have existed. She wasn’t even making a comment about the environmental impact of all that paper.

“Um.” Alex wetted her dry mouth, before trying again. “Astra, what are you doing here?”

“I came by to ensure that you had gone to bed without trouble last night,” Astra said. “Considering the state that you were in when I brought you home, I think I had good reason to be concerned.”

Alex stared at her, then cleared her throat, looking around the messy living room. "You didn't have to."

Astra didn’t look like she had read any of the poems. There was still time to salvage this situation. Alex could still get out of this unscathed.

“It was no trouble,” Astra says. Then, to Alex’s horror, she reached over to pick the topmost piece of paper off of her desk. “Besides, I was kept entertained while you slept. Your attempts are poetry were instructive.”

She cleared her throat subtly, before she spread the crumpled page out and began to read it, right in front of Alex.

_ “Astra you're really hot, and when-” _

That was as far as she got before Alex lunged, grabbing the paper right out of Astra’s hand.

“I was reading that,” Astra said, looking at her with mild amusement.

Alex crumpled up the sheet of paper, glanced around for a waste bin to chuck it in, before getting a better idea and stuffing it into her own mouth.

“No, you weren’t,” she said, when she had finished chewing.

Astra was still watching her, a gentle smile playing around her mouth.

“I still remember what was written on there, you know. I’m very flattered that you want us to f-”

“You can’t prove anything!” Alex protested.

“You disliked that one?” Astra asked innocently. To Alex’s continued dread, she reached down and picked another crumpled sheet off the floor. “What about one of your other tries? I particularly liked the one where you tried to rhyme Astra with pasta.”

Alex collapsed onto the sofa, head sinking into her hands. “I hate you. I hate you with everything in my heart.”

What had she been thinking? How drunk had she been last night, to think that she was somehow capable of writing poetry of all things, let alone that the result would actually convince Astra to date her? Alex didn’t often feel stupid, but she was very much feeling exactly that now.

“That’s unfortunate.” Though undercurrents of amusement remained, Astra’s voice was more or less her usual grave tones. “Because, I happen to be very much in love with you.”

Alex looked up. “What?”

Astra looked strangely touched, when their gazes met.

“You tried to write all these for me,” she said, gesturing at the crumpled sheets at her feet. “That isn’t something I ever expected anyone to do for me. Not that you, of all people, ever needed to.”

Alex stared at her.

“What are you saying?” she whispered.

Astra knelt down before her in front of the sofa, so that they were eye to eye.

“Do you really love me?” she asked, searching Alex's face. “It wasn't just some drunken, temporary- some-”

“Of course not!” Alex said. “I love you, Astra! I've... I think I've loved you almost since you crossed over and started working with us... with  _ me _ . I’ve tried to deny it was serious for a really long time, but I-"

She trailed off, scrubbing shaking fingers through her hair and trying to make sense of it all, while Astra just waited. When she had sorted everything out, one thing stood out to Alex, above all. 

“You love me,” she said. “I didn’t mishear that. You love me back.”

When she looked back at Astra, a watery smile was spreading over the other’s face.

“I do,” Astra said. “I was drawn to you since the first time I saw you. I tried to pass it off as something purely physical, but it wasn’t. Not when I saw every day how brave and brilliant and exceptional you were, even as you beat yourself up over your perceived inadequacies.”

She took a deep breath, and reached out to take both of Alex’s still-trembling hands into her own, before finished her confession. “Of course I love you, Alex. I am, and have always been, incapable of not loving you.”

Alex stared at her again, blushing. Then, she leant forward, and pressed their lips together.

The kiss was like everything she’d ever imagined, and completely unlike it at the same time. Alex felt everything that she’d imagined she’d feel at getting to kiss Astra, but she could never have imagined the softness of Astra’s lips against hers, or the sounds she made against her mouth, or the way she cradled Alex’s face between her hands, as if it were the most precious thing in the world.

When they separated, Astra still had her eyes closed, and there was a small smile playing around her lips.

“You know, of all the poems you wrote, I did have a favorite.”

“You did?” Alex asked, still a little dazed from the kiss.

There was a teasing tilt to Astra’s mouth, and her eyes were still closed, when she began to recite.

_ "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the-" _

"You ass!" Alex lobbed a couch cushion at her. "You know that one was copied from Shakespeare!"

\---


End file.
